June 20, 2008

I have finished shooting all of the bibs and onesies for Quilt Baby (except for a few new designs that aren't ready yet). I can't wait for you to see the new designs they are coming out with - super super cute!! I want them all!! I wish I would have known about these when Emily was just a newborn! She would have been in them every day!!

Next I will start shooting the minky blankets. I have two of them and they are fabulous - such cute designs and then the reverse side is super soft and snuggly!! LOVE them! I also love how adorable they look folded up and displayed in Emily's room. It makes me happy just seeing the cute patterns!

June 16, 2008

I had the privilege of doing an engagement session last weekend for a family that I know and love dearly! It was a non-traditional engagement session because the bride and groom have both been married before and they both have 5 children! That's right - 5 each - for a total of 10! The beautiful bride and her family live across the street from me and all of her girls babysit for me! Not only are they great babysitters but I also served in our church Young Women's program with them so I have grown to love each one of them! They truly are an amazing and inspiring family - so strong and such great people!!

Anyway, they wanted their kids to announce the marriage and they wanted a bunch of fun photos of the new combined family! It was a blast! The kids ranged in age from 4 to teenager and they were all so fun and such good sports - even though it was 110 degrees outside!!!! We worked quickly and drank lots of water and it wasn't that bad! Lucky for us the location has an awesome water feature so we took lots of breaks for the kids to stand in the water and cool off!

Here is one of the darling couple! I will share lots more soon. I have been busy designing their announcements so I haven't gotten to all of them yet! Stay tuned...

June 12, 2008

I need a storage solution and I am wondering if you all can help me out! Does anyone have a fabulous way of storing their rub-ons? Right now I have mine in a metal bin but they are all jumbled together - alphas, journaling spots, flourishes, shapes, etc - and it is not working for me. Plus, once I start cutting into a sheet of rub-ons, they don't stand up well in the bin and I end up with small pieces, etc. I have thought of getting folders - the school type ones - and storing them in those... not sure how great that would work???

Any ideas??

Also, last month got away from me and I never got the chance to post about my article in Creating Keepsakes Magazine that featured my scrapbook room. It was fun to see it in there! It was interesting to put into words how I store everything and how that translates into my creative process. It really got me thinking about whether or not my room and the way my products are stored facilitate or hinder my whole process.

After I wrote the article and thought more about this whole topic, I realized that I needed to change a few things. It's all about evolving right? When Loni was here she pointed out that I was storing some things in different spots around the room rather than in a common area. Even though it has worked so far, I realized that it would speed my process up if I moved a few things around and stored all like things together. I didn't change any furniture or the layout of my room, just found new homes for a few things - gathered some things together that were scattered about. I have to say that I love it and it has helped speed up my process.

It's something to think about - how do you store your products and why do you store them that way? Does it help to make the creative process easy, inviting and fun for you? I for one like things to be organized and I like my room to be clean. If it gets too messy I simply cannot have a clear mind and focus on my projects. I think that is why I am always re-organizing and purging things - always trying to keep control of the abundance and clutter!

Anyway, I know that many of you have asked to see my scrapbook room, so I hope you had a chance to see the article! For those of you that missed it, I will post some pictures in the coming weeks.

Hopefully you all can help me with the rub-ons! I really want to get that organized in a better way!

June 11, 2008

work on some photography stuff - edit photos and design a wedding anouncement

clean the house

... all mixed in with the regular stuff of the day - breakfast, lunch, dinner, bath, play with the boys and emily jane...

One thing that frustrates me throughout the summer is that I feel like my house is a constant mess! Even when I have it clean at night before I go to bed, it is a mess by 8:30 the next morning!! Eeek!! Does anyone have any great suggestions on keeping your house clean during the summer when all the kiddos are home from school? I try to ignore it until the end of the day and just pick up in the afternoon before dinner. Otherwise I feel like I could just follow the kids around all day picking up and telling them to pick up. But, on the other hand it drives me crazy to have a messy house all day!! Let me know if you have any good tips!! I need all the help I can get!!

I took these photos of Emily Jane when we were up in Utah back in April. I took them with my cheap little point-and-shoot that my husband got me for Christmas. On one hand, I hate using it because I have become such a perfectionist with my photos, but on the other hand I love having it because it keeps me from missing so many shots when I don't have my big camera with me. I guess it is a love/hate relationship! :) I played around with these in Photoshop - used my actions (lighten up, color pop and vintage), then I did a little more fine tune editing and added a texture. I can't wait to use these on a scrapbook page!!

June 07, 2008

I am a scrapbooker, but through this have become very interested in improving my photography skills. I love to see your work. What I would like right now is for you to develop your actions for Elements users, as I for one would love to purchase these.
Thank you for the chance to be entered into your giveaway.

Posted by: kathy (kathyb) | June 03, 2008 at 02:45 AM

Congrats Kathy! Email me your address and I will get your package sent out next week!

Thanks to everyone for playing and for all of your feedback/comments! I am glad to know that you all do feel inspired when you come here! I am going through all of your comments and will plan some fun things to do on here in the future, including some more give aways!!

We are heading to the pool today! The boys are already in their suits and telling me that they are going to go hop in the car even though we are not going for a couple of hours! They must be excited! Tyler loves the waterslides this year and he goes down them about 100 times every time we go! He and Matthew are both a lot less afraid of the water this year - jumping in more and not being afraid to put their heads under. We start swim lessons next week and I think they will do really well this year - hoping for lots of progress. When you move here from Utah, it is hard for the kids to catch up in the swimming department since most Arizona kids basically live in the pool from the time they are born! :) We are getting there!

I will leave you with a few more photos from a session that I did a while back. This little girl is just too cute!!

Have a great Saturday!!

Oh, one more thing. When you purchase my actions, the only email that I have to send the actions to is the email that is linked to your paypal account. So, it is critical that you make sure the email on your paypal account is your current email. I am trying to email the actions to someone that purchased them on June 6th and the email keeps getting returned to me. I have no other way to contact you so hopefully you will see this and email me with a new email!! If you have purchased my actions recently and have not received them, please email me!! Thanks!!

June 05, 2008

Remember this adorable onesie and blanket that I got from Quilt Baby? After seeing the pictures of little miss Emily on my blog, the owners contacted me and hired me to photograph all of their products for their website, marketing, etc. It has been fabulous working with them so far and I am so excited to start sharing a few of the images with you! The crazy thing is that they are located in North Carolina and I am in Arizona, but today's technology makes everything possible! When the first shipment arrived - all of the onesies and bibs - it was so fun to see them all in person and to see the new designs they are coming out with soon!
Emily and my good friend's baby have been doing all of the modeling for us. It has been quite the experience - lots of hard work but also very rewarding. I will just say that baby modeling is a time consuming and tiring job for the babies and the moms! :) They especially don't enjoy the multiple clothing changes! After three different shoots, lots of smiles and some tears and way too much terrible singing and jumping around by me, we are almost done with all of the onesies and bibs. The two little cuties have just learned to crawl so it can be quite a job getting them to sit in one spot for more than half a millisecond! But, as always, the reward comes when I am sitting here at my computer going through the images and I come across the "money shots". No words to describe it - just the ones that take my breath away for a second, stop me in my tracks and make me forget about all of the hard work it took to get there. The ones that I am so excited to share with the owners of Quilt Baby that I have to stop editing and email them. And then when I get the email back saying that they love it and that it is exactly what they had in mind.... two creative visions becoming one. I love what I do!!

And of course, I know I am also biased because she is my baby girl and I am head over heels. I can't get enough of her and her adorable little personality that is emerging and blooming more and more every day..... but that is another post!

I adore this last one of baby B. I love the tiny glimpse of his chin and mouth, his hands and leg. He is so cute!!

Thanks to all for your sweet and fun comments on the Give Away post! There is still one more day to enter... I will leave it open for all of Friday and draw the winner Saturday morning.

June 02, 2008

I have been doing some Spring (or actually Summer) cleaning around here and I went through all of my scrapbook supplies to re-organize a few things and to purge some of my excess. Purging and organizing seem to be a constant activity for me... always striving to find the balance between having what I need and will use vs having just too much stuff. The older I get, the less I like clutter and I feel the constant need to get rid of the excess. And I also realize that part of this is resisting the urge to buy so much - especially when it comes to scrapbooking. I know I find myself wanting all of the new products, when in reality I just can't use it all! I am getting better though and that is why I love the monthly kits so much! It gives me a sampling of the latest and greatest while keeping me out of the scrapbook stores where I would probably buy 10 times as much stuff! Anyway, lucky for you, I now have some very large stacks of products that I would like to share with those of you that scrapbook and that would put all of it to good use!

I will draw a winner for the first give away on Friday! All you have to do to enter is leave a comment on this post and answer the following: As a scrapbooker/crafter/photographer, what would you like to see more of from me? What questions do you have for me? What techniques or projects would you like to see more of? When you come here, what are you looking for - inspiration, photos, techniques???? I want to be posting things that are helpful to you all and things that you like to see, so please tell me!! I am all ears!